pablo made landfall in
the region at dawn yesterday, bringing driving rain

and packing gusts of up to
210 kilometers (130 miles)
an hour that toppled trees
and brought down power

FPABLO, 11

Page 14

TOPPLED. Strong winds brought by typhoon Pablo’s tail end uproot a 50-year old tree that made some parts of E. Quirino Ave. to lose power yesterday. LEAN DAVAL JR.

Bangsamoro

Bigger than ARMM, smaller than BJE
By Antonio M. Ajero

Follow Us On

T

HE BANGSAMORO land
defined in the Framework Agreement on the
Bangsamoro (FAB) is bigger

than the present Autonomous
Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), but a lot smaller
than the Bangsamoro Juridical

Entity (BJE) stipulated in the
scratched Memorandum on
Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).

This was one of the matters discussed by Undersecretary Jose Luis Martin “Chito”

FBANGSAMORO, 11

2 THE BIG NEWS

VOL.5 ISSUE 197 • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012

Malacanang defends
Framework Agreement

M

ALACANANG
is bullish the
Framework
Agreement signed by the
philippine government
and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front will pass
constitutional scrutiny.
Deputy presidential
Spokesperson
Abigail
Valte, in a press briefing
Tuesday, said when the
Framework Agreement
was about to be signed
by the former chair of the
government peace panel,
now Supreme Court Justice Marvic Leonen, “the
Framework Agreement
was crafted with the Supreme Court decision on
the MOA-AD (memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain) in mind.”
Lawyer Elly pamatong,
a nuisance candidate in
2004 presidential polls,
has a petition before the
Supreme Court question-

ing the constitutionality of the government’s
Bangsamoro Framework
Agreement with the MILF.
pamatong, however,
admitted in his pleadings
even before the GpH and
the MILF could come up
with the annexes of the
Framework Agreement
and make it final.
He said the government peace panel allegedly committed grave
abuse of discretion, saying the Constitution only
provides for Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao and the creation
of a “Bangsamoro” is nowhere cited.
pamatong
claimed
that the government
peace panel, as a result,
“has usurped the power of Congress to enact,
amend or repeal laws
vested on it by the Constitution.”

PASKO FIESTA. A huge Pasko Fiesta 2012 billboard can be seen erected in front of
the Davao City Hall to remind Dabawenyos about the activities for the Yuletide season
along San Pedro Street yesterday. But after a reported disagreement between Mayor

EDGEDAVAO

Sara Dutere Carpio and Davao City Treasurer’s Office head Rodrigo Riola, the budget
for Pasko Fiesta 2012 and bonuses of the local government employees are now in
peril. LEAN DAVAL JR.

Sereno fails to attend
SC en banc session A

Karapatan joining soldiers
on Human Rights Week

By Anthony S. Allada

F

OR the first time,
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno
was not able to attend
Tuesday the en banc
session of the Supreme
Court.
Under Special Order
No. 1384 dated Dec. 4,
2012 and signed by Sereno herself, titled “Adjudication of Cases”, she designated Senior Associate
Justice Antonio T. Carpio
as Acting Chief Justice
for the reason that she

is sick.
“In view of the sick
leave of absence of the
undersigned, Senior Associate Justice Antonio
T. Carpio is hereby designated as Acting Chief
Justice, with authority
to exercise the powers
and prerogatives of and
pertaining to the position of Chief Justice on
matters that cannot wait
for the Justice, effective
today, Decr 4, 2012, until
the undersigned reports

back to work,” Sereno’s
Order read.
Carpio is the most senior associate justice of
the highest court of the
land.
However, the justices
of the SC were surprised
how Sereno suddenly got
sick after it was reported
she was lobbying Monday when she personally
went in the chambers of
Justices Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, Arturo D.
Brion and Martin S. Vil-

larama Jr.
Sereno allegedly even
lobbied with other justices over the telephone
to support her and not to
revoke the reopening of
the Regional Court Administration Office Region 7.
The justices of the
SC last weekend denied
Sereno’s order that a
resolution be issued
ratifying her act for the
revival and reopening

FSERENO, 11

MILITARY official
here said that the
Karapatan human
rights group in Southern Mindanao, which
has been its number one
critic, has reportedly
signified to join the culminating activity of the
International
Human
Rights Week on December 10, Monday.
Lt. Col. Jerry Besana,
spokesperson of Task
Force Davao, said that
they already sent an invitation to the group
and that they received a
positive response that it

cific’Alliance of YMCAs, the group dynamics is handled by resource persons and expert-presenters Paul Andresen, president & CEO of Anaheim Family YMCA, California,
USA, (2nd left) and volunteer consultant Ron Coulombe, former president & CEO
of Edmonton YMCA, Canada (2nd right).

FKARAPATAN, 11

BOI asked to suspend
granting of tax holiday

T

YMCA RESOURCE MOBILIZATION WORKSHOP. Incoming YMCA Davao president
Nonoy Villa-Abrille (right), past president Joe Custodio (left) and general-secretary
Sylvia Piedad participate in a 3-day seminar-workshop in Pines City that gathered key
leaders and staff of selected local associations. Hosted by YMCA Baguio on November
23-25 and organized by the National Movement under the auspices of the Asia-Pa-

would join the event.
Besana said that on
that day, there will be a
march from Ateneo de
Davao
Universitycampus to Rizal park where
a peace Rally would be
held.
“Our very purpose
here is to celebrate Human Rights Week and
this is the opportune
time when we act as one
to protect human rights,”
he said.
He said Karapatan
members may bring
with them placards and

HE special committee on food security
and the committee on agriculture of the
House of Representatives
will be filing a joint resolution asking the Board of
Investments to suspend
the granting of a seven-year tax holiday and
duty-free importation of
raw materials to a Thai
firm.
During the joint hearing Tuesday by both
House panels, they agreed
to file a joint resolution
after
representatives
from the hog industry
aired their concerns on
the alleged “preferential”
treatment given to the
Charoen pokphand Firm
of Thailand, which is operating in the country
under Charoen pokphand
Food philippines Corporation, by the BOI.
Reports said Charoen
pokphand
purchased

large tracts of lands in
various areas in Central
Luzon as base of operations of its billion pesos
projects. It has a total
investment of p7.14 billion in Central Luzon, a
part of which is close to
p3 billion project widely
criticized by local hog and
poultry raisers.
Because of its huge
investments in the country, Charoen pokphand
was granted a seven-year
income tax holiday and
duty-free
importation
of raw materials by the
BOI. BUTIL party-list Rep.
Agapito Guanlao, however, said the alleged preferential treatment given
to Charoen pokphand “is
like butchering the local
hog and poultry industries.”
“The BOI seems blind
over the fact that 80 percent of the hogs in the
country are produced

SUBURBIA

EDGEDAVAO VOL.5 ISSUE 197 •WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012

Boy dies in Valencia
as Pablo moves West
A

six-year-old
boy
died in neighboring
Valencia City this
morning when he was
hit by a fallen coconut
tree when Typhoon pablo
battered the province, reports said.
A MindaNews source
working at the Lavina
General Hospital in Valencia said the boy, who is
still unknown as of press
time, did not make it to
the hospital alive.
The eye of Typhoon
pablo passed by Malaybalay and neighboring areas
around noon yesterday.
Malaybalay
Mayor
Ignacio Zubiri said residents were forcibly evacuated in Sitio panamucan,
Barangay San Jose here
due to the rain-induced
landslides. Last October,
residents in the area also
evacuated because of
landslides.
According to the philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration’s (pAGASA) Severe
Weather Bulletin No. 8
issued 11 a.m. today, seven Mindanao provinces
remain under Signal No.
3 as pablo continues its
westward path. These are

Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Lanao del Sur, Lanao
del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Zamboanga del
Norte, and Camiguin.
Surigao del Norte (including Siargao Island),
Surigao del Sur, Dinagat,
Agusan del Norte, Agusan
del Sur, Davao del Norte
(including Samal Island),
Compostela Valley, Davao
Oriental, North Cotabato,
Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay and Maguindanao were degraded into Signal No. 2, while
Davao del Sur, Sultan
Kudarat, Basilan, Sarangani and South Cotabato
are now under Signal No.
1.
In Lanao del Sur, Col.
Satar Buriongan, provincial risk reduction management council officer,
said that a bridge was
washed out and there
were two reported cases
of landslides in the municipality of Kapai.
Buriongan said continuous strong rains since
last night forced them to
dispatch a team for an
emergency evacuation of
hundreds of families in
Kapai this morning.
“The road is not passable at the moment, but

we advised the residents
to evacuate now and look
for higher grounds for
their safety,” Buriongan
said in a phone interview.
In Bubong town also in
Lanao del Sur, water rose
knee-deep as trees were
uprooted with the strong
wind. At least 25 families
were recommended for
emergency evacuation.
Disaster officials worried continuous rains
until noon will submerge
the nearby towns of Ditsaan-Ramain, Buadiposo-Buntong,
Molondo,
Taraka, poona-Bayabao
and Lumba-Bayabao.
In Cagayan de Oro City,
half of the city had blackout this morning. The City
Disaster Risk Reduction
Management
Council
(CDRRMC) reported that
as of 11 a.m., 24,389 people have sought shelter in
43 evacuation centers.
The provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council of Misamis Oriental also reported that 1,750 families, or
7,446 individuals, from
25 municipalities went to
evacuation centers.
In Kidapawan City, 60
families living around Mt.
Apo were forced to evacu-

Reduction” or ApIR to
highlight its campaign
against the use of firecrackers and fireworks
during the Christmas and
New Year revelries.
“We should take care
of ourselves and make
sure that all our fingers
are still intact and complete by the start of the
New Year,” she said, explaining the campaign’s
message.
Convocar said they
are presently implementing the campaign
throughout the region in

coordination with local
government health offices and rural health units.
Region 12, which is
also known as the Soccsksargen Region, covers
the provinces of South
Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat,
Sarangani, North Cotabato and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and
Cotabato.
The DOH central office launched the ApIR
campaign in December
last year to help promote
a safe holiday celebra-

tion.
The campaign reiterates the DOH’s Oplan
Iwas paputok that was
started in 1994 to monitor the use of firecrackers, particularly from
Dec. 21 to Jan. 4, to minimize the morbidity and
mortality from fireworks
and firecrackers as well
as injuries.
Jane Ventura, DOH-12
information officer, said
they are presently posting tarpaulins that depict
the plight of fireworks

Team, said that after they
received the advisory
from the philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and
Astronomical Services Administration (pAG-ASA) of
Typhoon pablo affecting
the province, they immediately held emergency
meetings to prepare for
the disaster.
Alqueza said that torrential rains usually cause
heavy flooding and landslides in areas near their
water sources.
To make sure their filtration plants are working
and to avoid heavy turbidity during flooding, the
MKWD dispatched teams
to conduct patrolling in the

watersheds.
Alqueza said the teams
brought with them the
necessary equipment and
facilities for monitoring
the watersheds, reservoirs,
dams, and their filtration
plants located in different
areas.
MKWD general manager Stella Gonzales said
the Oplan pablo, led by
Alqueza, will also strengthen
community-based
approach to reduce the
damage to be brought by
typhoon pablo.
The MKWD has identified six watershed areas,
which include Amapolon,
Lawan, padet, pamanganan, Basingon and Saka-

tian, all located at Mount
Apo.
Also, the teams were
tasked to conduct inspection of possible encroachment and entry of unauthorized persons and check on
the presence of renewed
agricultural activities in the
watershed areas.
Early September this
year, MKWD watershed
personnel team leader
Rey Anthony Debelos has
strongly
recommended
the planting of bamboos
and giant ferns and cogon
grass in the river banks
and near stiff slopes to
prevent erosion and landslides. (Malu Cadelina
Manar / MindaNews)

ate after a series of landslides in Barangay Balabag noon today.
Barangay
chairman
Ephraim Umpan said the
families – who brought
with them some of their
clothes, kitchen wares,
and other belongings –
are housed temporarily at
the barangay hall.
At least six landslides
were spotted at Sitio
Mawig, Barangay Balabag,
one of the routes leading
to the peak of Mount Apo,

DOH 12 wants zero firecracker casualty

T

HE Department of
Health (DOH) in
Region 12 is targeting to achieve “zero-casualty” in terms of
firecracker-related injuries during the Christmas
season through its enhanced campaign against
the use of firecrackers
and fireworks in the area.
Dr. Marilyn Convocar,
DOH Region 12 director,
said Monday they have
started the posting and
distribution of campaign
materials on the agency’s
“Aksyon: paputok Injury

FDOH, 11

Kidapawan water district dispatches
teams to monitor Mt. Apo watersheds

T

HE Metro Kidapawan Water District
(MKWD) has sent
three teams to monitor
the watersheds in Mount
Apo and their facilities,
including dams and filtration plants, to ensure safe
drinking water while Typhoon pablo is ravaging
Mindanao.
The watersheds are
sources of water for more
than 25,000 households in
Kidapawan City and nearby towns of Makilala, Magpet and Matalam in North
Cotabato.
Engr. Sandy Alqueza,
MKWD assistant general
manager who also heads
the Crisis Management

3

lo makes landfall in Banganga town at 4:45 a.m. Baganga is at
least 126 kilometers from Mati City. [Andrew Bastes]

the country’s highest
mountain.
No one was reported hurt during the landslides, Umpan said.
The heavy rains started around 4:25 a.m. today
and continued until noon.
Umpan
expressed
fears that if the rains
would continue until tomorrow, many residents,
especially in flood-prone
and landslide-prone areas in his village, would
be affected.

He already sought
help from rescue volunteers in the city for immediate evacuation of these
residents.
Teams from the Kidapawan City Emergency
Response Unit (KidCeru) and from the philippine Red Cross were
dispatched to facilitate
the evacuation. [Walter
I. Balane, Ferdinandh
Cabrera, Cong B. Corrales
and Malu Cadelina Manar
/ MindaNews]

Army captures 6 NPA
camps in North Cotabato

G

OVERNMENT forces pursuing communist guerillas in
the hinterlands of North
Cotabato have captured
six major camps of the
New people’s Army.
Colonel
prudencio
Asto, speaking for the 6th
Infantry Division, said
on Tuesday that joint elements of the 57th, 7th,
and 6th Scout Ranger
Company of the 602nd
Infantry Brigade, have
been engaging about 200
NpA guerillas at the foot
of the country’s highest
peak – Mt. Apo.
Lieutenant
Colonel
Noel dela Cruz, 57th Infantry Battalion commander, said the discovery of abandoned NpA
camps was made possible with the help of civilians who have been complaining of continuing
extortion activities of the
NpAs.
He said civilians were
either threatened or coerced to support the underground movement.
“These are clear violations on Human Rights
(HR), International Humanitarian Law (IHL),
Rule of Law (ROL) and
the
Comprehensive
Agreement on Human

Rights and International Humanitarian Law
(CAHRIHL),” Dela Cruz
said.
“Nobody should be
forced to obey or to give
food and money through
fear and intimidation,”
he said, adding that the
NpAs now are on the run
following the capture of
its major camps in Magpet hinterlands.
Last month, according
to dela Cruz,the the Army
discovered several NpA
camps in Makilala and
Arakan, both in North Cotabato.
“The NpAs are rapidly
losing popular support
from the people. We’ve
been hitting them hard
with the support and cooperation of people who
have stood up against
NpA atrocities,” Dela Cruz
said.
“We encourage those
in the mountains to go
back to the folds of the
law. The government is
sincere in its efforts of
ending this conflict. I advise them to avail of the
Social Integration program (SIp) of the government and lead normal
lives with their families
and loved ones,” the 57th
IB chief said.[pNA]

4 SCIENCE/ENVIRONMENT

VOL.5 ISSUE 197 • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

Warm ocean driving Antarctic ice loss

M

OST of the ice
being lost from
Antarctica is going as a result of warm
water eating the fringes
of the continent, scientists say. The researchers used a satellite laser
to measure the thinning
occurring on ice shelves
- the floating tongues of
ice that jut out from the
land.
The team’s analysis
found the shelves’ shrinkage could not be attributed simply to warmer air.
Rather, it is warm water
getting under the floating
ice to melt it from below.
This is leading to a
weakening of the shelves,
permitting more and
more ice to drain from
the continent’s interior
through tributary glaciers. previous studies
have already indicated
that warmer waters are
being driven towards
the continent by stronger westerly winds in the
Southern Ocean.
The researchers say
the new understanding has major implications for their ability to
reliably project future
sea-level rises as a result
of Antarctic ice loss.
“What we realise now
is that we’re looking at a

very sensitive system,” Dr
Hamish pritchard, from
the British Antarctic
Survey (BAS), told BBC
News.
“previously,
you
would have thought that
we needed a lot of warming in the atmosphere
to get a substantial loss
of ice from Antarctica because it’s such a cold
place. But what we show
is that that’s not necessary; you don’t need radical change.
“All you need are quite
subtle changes - such as a
change in the winds - and
that can produce effects
at the edges of Antarctica
that then lead to a loss of
a lot of ice.”
The research is published in the journal Nature but has also been
presented here at the
European
Geosciences Union (EGU)
meeting in Vienna,
Austria.
pritchard’s
team used the
laser altimeter
on
Nasa’s
Icesat
spacec ra f t
t o

map the changing thickness in 54 ice shelves
around Antarctica.
The survey incorporated some 4.5 million
data points between
2003 and 2008.
The
researchers
draw on modelling work
and information from a
range of other studies to
explain the thinning observed by Icesat.
Twenty of the shelves
were assessed to be being melted from below
by warm ocean currents. Most of the 20 are
in West Antarctica, and
show thinning up to seven metres per year.
In every single case, the
glaciers
o
n

land that feed into these
shelves have recorded accelerated movement over
the same period.
This will have drained
many
billions
more
tonnes of ice into the
ocean, contributing to
sea level rise.
The
explanation,
simply put, is that the
shelves no longer have
the strength to impede
glacier flow in the way
they once did.
“When ice shelves
completely collapse - and
we’ve seen that before the grounded glaciers behind them will speed up;
we know that,” explained
co-author Helen Amanda
Fricker of Scripps Institution of Oceanography
at UC San Diego, US.
“But what this study
is showing, which is very
new, is that you
don’t need
to lose the
shelf
en-

tirely for this to happen;
just a reduction in the
thickness of the ice shelf
is enough to allow more
of the grounded ice behind it to flow off the continent.”
One key tell-tale that
warm water is at the root
of the thinning is shape
of the sea-floor.
Some of the greatest
melting has been seen
where deep troughs cut
across the continental
shelf, allowing the water easier access to the
shelves’ undersides.
The picture is not
uniform all around Antarctica. Indeed, on the
peninsula - the long
stretch of land pointing
towards South America - the shelves show a
different set of thinning
symptoms, which very
probably can be tied to a
warming atmosphere.
But again, the originator is probably the same
changing wind patterns.
“Strong
westerlies
g o
up over
t h e

chain of the peninsula mountains and these
winds descend, they
warm up, melting the
surface of the shelves
on the eastern side. So,
although we have two
different melting mechanisms, the ultimate cause
is the same - it’s the
wind,” said Dr pritchard.
Colleague and co-author prof David Vaughan
said the research provided new understanding to
help scientists gauge the
likely impact of future ice
loss on ocean height.
“This is one study
within a programme
called ice2sea, which is a
European Union-funded
programme that’s aimed
at improving our projections of sea-level rise.
“The idea is that we
go and study some of the
processes that are causing ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica to
change, and that allows
us to improve the models
for projection of future
sea level rise.”
The ice2sea project
will be releasing its projections into the 21st and
22nd centuries later this
year. [BBC]

OUTHEAST Asian nations target integrating, refocusing and
updating research and
development (R&D) direction for collectively boosting efforts to save this
region’s mangrove areas
from further destruction
and decline.
Such planned direction includes establishing
a common ASEAN database and mangrove information center as well as
undertaking cooperation
projects on mangrove
R&D.
Marcial Amaro Jr., director of the Ecosystems
Research and Development Bureau (ERDB),
raised urgency for such
collective action, noting
studies show aquaculture
and other economic activities, population pressure and natural disasters
amidst climate change are
reducing Southeast Asia’s
mangrove areas.

“Mangroves constitute
an important segment of
our environment -more
technology is needed to
enjoy benefits from these,”
he said Tuesday at the
First ASEAN Congress on
Mangrove R&D that ERDB
and the philippine Department of Foreign Affairs
spearheaded in Metro Manila.
Experts noted mangroves are a group of
salt-tolerant plants that
occupy the inter-tidal
zone of sheltered coasts
around estuaries and lagoons. Aside from serving
as nesting and foraging
ground for various species, they said mangrove
areas are sources of wood
and non-wood products.
They likewise noted
that mangroves help absorb climate change-driving carbon emissions and
buffer coastal communities against sea surges.
Data show Southeast Asia

hosts about a third of global mangrove area totaling
some 14 million to 15 million hectares at present.
Such mangroves are
the most diverse in terms
of flora and fauna composition with 18 plant species being endemic to the
region.
“The region has the
highest rate of mangrove
loss,” Southeast Asia Fisheries Development Center Scientist Emerita and
Zoological Society of London (ZSL) Chief Mangrove
Scientific Advisor Dr. Jurgenne primavera reported
during the congress.
She noted the shrimp
production frenzy from
the 1980s to the mid2000s accounted for much
of such loss. The congress’
overall coordinator Dr.
Honorato palis from ERDB
pointed out R&D funding
constraints likewise affect
efforts for saving Southeast Asia’s mangroves.

He noted available
data show funding allocation in Thailand and the
philippines for respective
R&D activities in general,
including those for mangroves, are way below UNESCO’s recommendation
of at least one percent of
gross national product.
The countries’ allocation are only about 0.26
percent and 0.12 percent,
respectively, he reported.
“Developed countries’ allocation is higher at about
two percent,” he said.
ZSL’s
community-based
rehabilitation
project in the philippines’
panay and Guimaras islands yielded significant
lessons for enhancing efforts to regenerate mangroves, she reported.
Among such lessons
are shifting mangrove
planting activities from
seafront sites to abandoned ponds when possible.

ELTING of polar
ice sheets has added 11mm to global
sea levels over the past two
decades, according to the
most definitive assessment
so far.
More than 20 polar
research teams have combined forces to produce
estimates of the state of
the ice in Greenland and
Antarctica in a paper in Science.
Until now different
measurement means have
produced a wide range of
estimates with large uncertainties.
But sea-level rise is now
among the most pressing
questions of our time.
polar ice has a tremendous capacity to cause
massive rises - with huge
potential impacts on coastal cities and communities
around the world.
But the remoteness and
sheer size of the ice sheets
mean accurate measurements are a serious challenge even for satellites

which have to distinguish
snow from ice, and the rise
of the land from the shrinking of the ice.
The new estimate
shows that polar melting
contributed about one-fifth
of the overall global sea
level rise since 1992; other
factors include warming
that causes the seawater to
expand.
The study does not seek
to forecast future change.
Supported by US and
European space agencies
Nasa and Esa, the research
brought together data
from satellites measuring
the surface altitude, the
flow of the glaciers and
the gravitational effect of
the ice mass to produce
the first joint assessment
of how the ice sheets are
changing.
The results show that
the largest ice sheet - that
of East Antarctica - has
gained mass over the
study period of 19922011 as increased snowfall added to its volume.

EDGEDAVAO VOL.5 ISSUE 197 •WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012

THE ECONOMY

5

PH defends tuna fishing ban exemption
T

HE
philippines
fisheries bureau
director yesterday
defended the lifting of
the ban on fish aggregating device (FAD) fishing
in pocket 1 High Seas in
the Western pacific region for Filipino tuna
fishing vessels telling
delegates to the ongoing
9th Western and Central
pacific Fisheries Commission (WCpFC) meeting that the exemption
may have helped eased
pressure on the country’s tuna spawning and
nursery grounds.
The Fish and Aquaculture Department of
the United Nations’ Food
and Agriculture Organization defines FAD as
a “structure or device
made from any material and used to lure fish.”
It added that generally,
“buoys and floats close
to the surface comprise
the major part of the
aggregating system.” In
the philippines, FAD is
referred to as the payao.
The Sulu Sea and the
Sulawesi Sea are said to
be the spawning ground
of yellowfin tuna and
skipjacks.
Both tuna species are
highly migratory.
Bureau of Fisheries
and Aquatic Resources director Asis perez,

however, also said the
philippines is willing to
sit down with everybody
to discuss issues related
to the opening of pocket
1 to Filipino tuna fishing
vessels.
pocket 1 is an area
of more than 560,000
square miles of international waters north of
papua New Guinea and
east of Indonesia.
Asis said the philippines is still consolidating data catches both
inside philippine waters
and the initial landings
of tuna catch from the reopened high seas pocket
exclusively for Filipino
tuna fishing vessels.
But the philippine
fisheries director said
there are marked differences in the sizes of skipjacks and other tuna-like
species caught between
two fishing grounds.
He said initial tuna
catch from the high seas,
after it was reopened
recently, are far significantly longer and larger
that those caught inside
philippine waters.
Several
participating member countries
are calling for the total
closure of at least four
high seas pockets that
lie across the migratory
path of tuna and other
tuna-like species.

CLOSED. Several establishments choose not to open due to the strong winds and heavy rain brought by typhoon Pablo’s tail end along Ponciano Reyes Street yesterday. LEAN
DAVAL JR.

Asis also told the
WCpFC meeting that the
sample size of the recent catch landing from
the said area is still very
small for the philippines
to determine its impact
to the tuna stock.
He also refuted suggestion that more than
400 Filipino fishing vessels are now deployed in
the area reopened to the
philippines.

He said of the 36
fleets allowed to fish in
the area, only 11 have so
far reached the area with
some still working on to
comply with the stringent requirements of the
WCpFC.
Asis said the Filipino fishing vessels now
in the area could not be
more than 50.
He also reported
that, so far, only 678

metric tons of tuna catch
have been landed in the
fishing port of General
Santos City, some 920
kilometers south of Manila, after these vessels
reached the area on October 1.
The WCpFC is still
discussing a draft conservation management
measure submitted to
the plenary session.
Among these is a

four-month closure on
FAD fishing and purse
seine operations both
in exclusive economic
zones and the high seas.
WCpFC is now currently imposing a threemonth ban on FAD fishing
among its member countries and have closed
four pockets of high seas
in the Western pacific
ocean. [Edwin Espejo /
MindaNews contributor]

FFORTS to promote the
agribusiness potential of
Region 12 or Soccsksargen Region would suffer a blow
now that the area has been included in storm warning signals, a business executive said
on Tuesday.
“Unlike before, we could
now no longer boast that our
region is typhoon-free to attract investors in agribusiness,”
said Ricardo Juliano, vice president for Mindanao of the philippine Chamber of Commerce
and Industry.
Juliano said that corporate
farmers would have to factor
in their decision the reality
that the region is no longer typhoon-free.
Rice farming would likely be affected although there
are agribusiness ventures that
could withstand onslaught
of typhoons like oil palm and
pineapple, he said.
Juliano also said that plane
flights in Cotabato City have
been suspended Tuesday because of the bad weather but
planes were still flying out from
General Santos City.
Typhoon “pablo” (international name Bopha”) made
landfall over Baganga, Davao
Oriental at 4:45 a.m. Tuesday,
with the philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration
(pAGASA) hoisting public storm
signals in 24 of Mindanao’s 26
provinces.
For Region 12, public storm
signal number 3 was declared
in North Cotabato, number two
for Sultan Kudarat and number
1 for South Cotabato and Saran-

GIRLS AND STRONG WINDS. Dabawenyas brave the strong winds and
heavy rain spawned by typhoon Pablo along City Hall Drive yesterday. After
being considered as perennially typhoon-free, Davao City must prepare for

typhoons to come after Pablo was felt and left minimal damages in the city.
LEAN DAVAL JR.

gani, pAGASA said in its Severe
Weather Bulletin Number Seven issued 5 a.m. today.
In Kidapawan City, the regional seat of government, the
weather was characterized by
weak continuous rainfall since
5:30 a.m., with wind velocity
remaining normal as of 10:55
a.m.
“This is the first time that
a public storm signal has been
hoisted in our area,” North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Mendoza
said in a radio interview.
She said that classes were
suspended in all school levels
in North Cotabato because of

pablo and that the Municipal
Disaster Risk Reduction Management Councils (MDRRMC)
have been closely monitoring
the situation.
Soldiers and policemen
have been deployed to riverbanks to watch the water level,
Mendoza said, adding they expect the volume of water to rise
in the province since it is the
outlet of waters from Bukidnon
and Agusan provinces.
In South Cotabato, Gov. Arthur Y. pingoy said that disaster
risk officials are also on alert
for possible flashfloods and
landslides.

He said that classes have not
been suspended although he is
closely coordinating with the
Department of Education.
Hilario de pedro III, South
Cotabato provincial administrator, said the Department of
the Interior and Local Government has been issuing warning
messages that they relayed to
the MDRRMCs.
“We are on standby for any
incident report and are ready
for quick response actions,”
said de pedro, also the provincial disaster risk reduction officer. [Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews]

chael Tan.
Tan, for his part, said “we
have the same passion for consumers and the same desire to
succeed. Now, delving into a
yogurt market, we are re-energized and true to our mission
of delivering great quality products available to Filipinos.”
The newly formed company,
ABI pascual Foods, will market
GpL’s major dairy product, the
Creamy Delight, a yogurt which
they believe will revolutionize
Filipinos yogurt experience.
Grupo Leche pascual has
been producing milk and milk
products for the last 40 years
and it has a network of 600 distributors in Latin America.
Lucio Tan-owned ABI, for its
part, is the most modern large
scale fully integrated brewery

in Southeast Asia. It has international tie-up with world renowned brewing company to
develop the premium sector
of the market and the licensee
manufacturer of international
brand beers such as Carlsberg,
Budweiser Colt 45 and Labatt.
“Our heritage is making products that are healthy and satisfy
the needs of our consumers
worldwide,” pascual said, adding
that “we take great pride and invest heavily in the highest quality
standards that we implement on
a daily basis.”
Tan said the product will be
sold at a price 40 to 50 percent
lower than the price of the same
product being sold at the market
now (which ranges from p30 to
p105).
“This is something unique we

intend to bring the product down
to the general trade,” Tan added.
Creamy Delight will be initially marketed in the philippines
and with import volume of one
million boxes a year, Tan and
pascual said they intend to make
Manila as the business center as
they expand their market in the
Southeast Asian region in the
near future.
They also added that once
the product has created its own
local market niche, they would
consider producing the product
locally.
“In two or three year’s time,
we might consider setting up a
factory in Cabuyao,” Tan said,
as he explained that they will
fill the gap on consumers’ consumption of yogurt in the country. [pNA]

Spanish firm bullish at PHL’s economy

A

N owner of a Spanish
dairy company has expressed his confidence on
the philippine economy, as he
ventured on forging an agreement with one of the country’s
beverage giant to market his
product locally.
“This is a good place to start.
The philippine market presents
so many exciting new opportunities for us,” enthused Tomas
pascual, president of Grupo
Leche pascual (GpL), during the
launching of the Asia Brewery
Inc. (ABI) pascual Foods, at the
ballroom of New World Hotel
Monday night.
“We are ready to invest. (We
are lucky) to find a partner who
knows the market very well,”
pascual said, as he commended
ABI chief operating officer Mi-

A Facebook page set up to monitor paedophiles has been removed after a judge in
Northern Ireland ruled Friday that it risked
infringing the human rights of a convicted sex
offender. [AFP]

A

Facebook page set
up to monitor paedophiles has been
removed after a judge in
Northern Ireland ruled
that it risked infringing the
human rights of a convicted sex offender.
The man, who cannot
be identified, started legal proceedings against
the social networking site
after discovering his photograph and threatening
comments had been posted on the page.
High Court judge Bernard McCloskey ruled
some content on the page
amounted to prima facie

harassment of the man,
known only as XY.
The man had previously been given a six-year
jail sentence for a string
of child sex offences committed more than 20 years
ago.
Judge McCloskey said:
“Society has dealt with the
plaintiff in accordance with
the rule of law.
“He has been punished
by incarceration and he is
subject to substantial daily restrictions on his lifestyle.”
The judge in his ruling
gave Facebook 72 hours
to take the original page

Vatican unveils Pope’s
Twitter handle: @pontifex

T

HE secret’s out. pope
Benedict’s new handle on Twitter will
be @pontifex, beating out
other contenders that had
been considered to showcase the thoughts of one
of the world’s most visible
leaders.
Benedict already has
1.2 billion “followers” in
the standard sense of the
word but next week he will
have another type when
he enters what for any 85year old is the brave new
world of Twitter.
The Vatican said on
Monday that the pope will
start tweeting on December 12.
“The handle is a good
one. It means ‘pope’ and it
also means ‘bridge builder’,” said Greg Burke, senior media advisor to the
Vatican.
Among the other handles that Vatican officials
had reportedly considered
was @BenedictusppXVI,
but they opted for something that was linked to
the office of the papacy.
But
don’t
expect
tweets about how the

pope is feeling or which
soccer team he is praying
to win a derby.
The papal tweets will
be spiritual, Burke told a
news conference, and the
pope will tweet when and
how often he wants.
And, even though Benedict is not the kind of
person who walks around
with a Blackberry or ipad,
Burke said “all the pope’s
tweets are the pope’s
words. Nobody is going to
be putting words into his
mouth.”
The first papal tweets
will be answers to questions sent to #askpontifex.
The tweets will be
going out in Spanish, English, Italian, portuguese,
German, polish, Arabic
and French. Other languages will be added in
the future.
primarily the tweets
will come from the contents of his weekly general audience, Sunday blessings and homilies on major Church holidays. They
will also include reaction
to major world events,
such as natural disasters.

down.
A spokeswoman for
Facebook said: “We are
considering our next steps
in light of the court judgment and we have nothing
further to add at this stage.”
The page, called ‘Keeping our kids safe from
predators’, was no longer visible at 20:00GMT
but a new page entitled
‘Keeping our kids safe
from predators 2’ had appeared, gaining over 2,400
likes in just a few hours.
It is not clear whether the creator of the new
page is the same as the
user that set up the origi-

ICT HUB 7

nal one.
However, the new
page’s
administrator
wrote in a posting at
15:30GMT: “Thats (sic)
the first page gone :( sad
day.”
More than 5,000 people had liked the original
page before its removal.
Some of the latest
posts were written after
the judge made his ruling.
Facebook is understood to have removed
the man’s photo and comments made about him
but his legal team insisted
that the page should be
shut down. [AFp]

NTERNET freedom will
not be curbed or controlled, the head of the
UN telecommunications
body, Hamadoun Toure,
said as a meeting to review the 24-year-old telecom regulations kicked off
Monday.
Such claims are “completely
(unfounded),”
Toure, secretary general of
the International Telecommunication Union, told
AFp.
“I find it a very cheap
way of attacking” the conference, he said, as the
World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) set off
in Dubai to review regulations reached in 1988.
Earlier, Toure told participants at the conference
that the Internet freedom
of expression will not be
touched during the discussions at the meeting.
“Nothing can stop the
freedom of expression in
the world today, and nothing in this conference will
be about it,” he said.
“I have not mentioned
anything about controlling
the Internet.”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon who
addressed the forum’s
opening by video underscored the importance of
the meeting as a venue to
enhance access to information and communication
technology (ICT) across
the globe.
“The overall objective is
to ensure universal access
to the benefits of information and communication
technology, including the
two thirds of the world’s

population currently not
online,” he said.
“We must continue to
work together and find a
consensus on how to most
effectively keep cyberspace
open, accessible, affordable and secure,” he said.
Google has been vocal in warning of serious
repercussions on the Internet if proposals made
by member states are
approved at the WCIT-12
meeting, including permitting censorship over legitimate content.
“Some proposals could
permit governments to
censor legitimate speech
-- or even cut off Internet
access,” said Bill Echikson,
Google’s head of Free Expression in Europe, Middle
East and Africa in a statement on Friday.
The Internet giant is
also arguing that the ITU,
which is the UN agency for
information communication technologies, is not
the right body to address
Internet issues.
“Although the ITU has
helped the world manage
radio spectrum and telephone networks, it is the
wrong place to make decisions about the future
of the Internet,” Echikson
said.
“Only
governments
have a vote at the ITU,” he
pointed out.
But Toure, whose Geneva-based organisation
has 193 member states
and over 700 private-sector entities and academic institutions, said that
“consensus” is the way
to make decisions at the
agency.

Twitter in legal spat
over data clampdown

T

WITTER Inc’s steadily tightening grip
over the 140-character messages on its network has set off a spirited
debate in Silicon Valley
over whether a social media company should or
should not lay claim over
its user-generated content.
That debate has now
landed in court.
A San Francisco judge
on Wednesday granted a
temporary restraining order compelling Twitter to
continue providing access
to its “Firehose” - the full
daily stream of some 400
million tweets - to peopleBrowsr Inc, a data analytics firm that sifts through
Twitter and resells that information to clients ranging from technology blogs
to the U.S. Department of
Defense.
As part of a broader
revenue-generating
strategy, Twitter in recent
months has begun clamp-

A Twitter page shows an entry from European Council President Herman Van Rompuy in Brussels March 11, 2011. [REUTERS]

ing down on how its data
stream may be accessed,
to the dismay of many
third-party
developers
who have built businesses
and products off of Twitter’s Firehose.
peopleBrowsr, which
began contracting Fire-

hose access in July 2010,
has continued to buy
Twitter data on a monthto-month basis until this
July, when Twitter invoked
a clause in the agreement
that allowed for terminating the contract without
cause.

The court’s decision to
extend the two San Francisco-based companies’
contract has not settled
the legal spat; a judge will
hear peopleBrowsr’s arguments for a preliminary
injunction against Twitter
on January 8.

8 VANTAGE POINTS

VOL.5 ISSUE 197 • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

A battleground for
weapons of the future
( Conclusion )

COMMENTARY

R

EDITORIAL

T

Christmas and eating

HE ENDLESS parties have begun. This is
common during the current Christmas season and all Christmases before and in the
future. In this particular Christmas, when there is
an appearance of abundance due to a a perceived
economic boom, real or imagine, there will be surfeit of everything, especially wine and spirits and
yes, food. Contemporary experience tells us that
ingested in excess food can become poison.
It is because of this, that we are taking liberty to
reprint a very useful article on the dangers of too
much eating from www.worldwidehealth.com.
“The fact is Christmas is filled with food.
Throughout time food has brought families and
friends together, food is a tradition. Food is glorious! Especially Holiday recipes they seem to hold
many memories and foster a feeling of togetherness. The problem is we eat too much food during
this Christmas season and then enter the New
Year feeling bloated and disappointed which leads
to making dramatic new years goals that are unattainable. To avoid this repetitious rollercoaster
there are a few Do’s and Don’ts that can help you
enjoy what you eat and still remain comfortable
without loosening your belt.
“The Do’s
Eat! Just maintain balance, for instance if you
have a function to attend in the evening and you
know there will be lots of foods that you will enjoy
eat smaller meals and snacks during the day.
Always keep a glass of water close by. It has been
scientifically proven that water fills you up. As you
are eating this holiday season develop the habit to
always drink water with your food this will fill you
up and fuel your body with needed goodness.
Help with preparing and organizing the functions. This will keep you busy burning calories
with little time to over eat.
Keep an eye on the how much you have eaten. It
can be very easy to loose track of how many slices
of cake you have consumed. Keeping a little note

book handy is a great way to jot down what you
have eaten and makes it easy to prevent over eating. This also puts you in control of what you are
eating and that is empowering.
Exercise. If you have over indulged get out and
work your body shifting the extra weight before it
becomes to overwhelming to shift. Exercising an
hour or so before eating will increase your chance
of listening to what your body needs without over
eating.
Listen to your body. If you feel full stop eating. If
you chew gum or clean your teeth after feeling full
you will be less likely to continue eating.
Socialize. Focus on chatting rather than eating.
“The Don’ts
Avoid taking full servings. There probably will
be numerous deserts available and you will probably want a taste of several. By taking several small
portions or sharing a portion with someone else
will avoid over indulging.
Don’t eat right before bed. It’s best to avoid eating right before bed as your body will burn very
few calories while sleeping.
Don’t stay around the food. Take your portion of
food and move away from the food, preferably to
a place where you can’t stare at the food, thinking
whether or not you should have more.
Don’t weigh yourself after you have eaten, it
will only depress you and give you a false weight.
Wait till the morning or after a bowel movement to
weigh yourself.
Don’t snack all day long. Remember the importance of balanced nutritious meals.
Avoid eating mostly one food group. When you
are plating up a dinner at a buffet make sure you
have a little of each food group.
Don’t just eat because you are offered food. Feel
free to decline food, if you are worried about offending the host take some food home to eat at
your connivance. [http://www.worldwidehealth.
com]
ANTONIO M. AJERO
Editor in Chief

USSIA, China and Japan are also
designing stealth warplanes.
Other radical new weapon
systems that emerged from the Yom
Kippur War include special “reactive”
vehicle armor that explodes outward,
destroying incoming projectiles. That
armor, along with other Israeli-designed vehicle protection, is now standard on the most popular Americanand Russian-made ground vehicles.
The first combat-grade Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles, or drones, were also
rapidly designed by Israeli munitions
manufacturers in order to avoid exposing reconnaissance pilots to enemy defenses, as happened in ’73.
The 10-foot-long Mastiff drone was
unpopular — until thoroughly proven
in tests. “Air force and army intelligence
adopted it with much enthusiasm,”
Eshel recalls. The Americans bought
upgraded versions that are still in use
today.
In the late ’70s, Abraham Karem,
one of Israel’s leading drone inventors,
immigrated to California, hoping to tap
the much larger U.S. weapons market.
Using his home as a workshop, he produced the first prototype of what would
become today’s General Atomics predator and Reaper drones, perhaps the major weapons in America’s global counter-terrorism campaign.
Inside the Dome
Some analysts expect Israel’s Iron
Dome rocket defense to have an equally profound impact on weapons development. Each Rafael-built Iron Dome
system consists of a radar and three
reloadable packs of 20 missiles, plus a
command trailer. The radar, a sophisticated model designed by Elta, detects
incoming rockets and other low-altitude projectiles and cues a maneuverable missile to intercept.
Iron Dome was developed by Israel,
with some U.S. funding, after the 2006
Israeli incursion into southern Lebanon. “Israel was defenseless against
massive Hezbollah rocket fire,” Michael
Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United
States, wrote in the newsletter, Israel
Hayom. “A year later, Hamas rocket-fire
on southern Israeli communities intensified and the need arose to develop a
system to defend against short-range
missiles.”
Eight Iron Dome systems have now
been funded. Two were deployed in
2011. An Israeli official told Eshel that
Hamas fired approximately 1,500 rockets during the recent fighting, of which
146 misfired or fell inside Gaza and
875 exploded in unoccupied areas. Iron
Dome intercepted 421. Just 58 rockets
penetrated the defenses and fell in populated areas.
Six Israelis died and hundreds were
injured, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
U.S. analysts have been watching
and listening. Since the beginning of the
Iraq War the pentagon has looked for
ways to defend against intensive rocket
strikes. As a stopgap, the military modified fast-firing naval guns for ground
use. In the United States, however, purpose-designed defenses like Iron Dome
have failed to get past the prototype
stage.
“people have been pointing to Iron
Dome,” said David Wright, a missile-defense expert at the Union of Concerned
Scientists, “and saying it seems to show
that kind of stuff can work.”
But many are concerned about the
high cost.
Cornell’s Lewis estimates Hamas’
rockets cost at most $50,000 apiece.
Each Iron Dome missile costs up to
$90,000, according to a March report
from the Congressional Research Service. “We assumed the missile approach
to be too expensive,” said Lewis of Cornell University. “It’s astonishing that the
Israelis are doing this with missiles.”

EDGEDAVAO

E

contentious political changes – just
when candidates
are
nervously
awaiting either the
most momentous
or trivial segment
of their political
careers. They are
fully aware that
the voters want members of Congress
and local officials who are courageous,
credible, sincere, upright, and with
powerful working ethic. Unfortunately,
noted political experts and keen observers noticed there’s a mixed-up list
of candidates of the contending parties
who are seeking Senate seats composed
mainly of neophytes, reelectionists, “favorite pets, has-been and have-nots.”
With the unconvincing composition, the electorate should have to
change their ways in voting if they
want to elect rightful and desirable
officials. The emphasis should now be
the people themselves. Installing into
office straightforward and trustworthy
political leaders determines many
things. There is no way we can become
a strong and respected nation if we
elect old and familiar faces but undesirable, heedless and devious Congress
and local bets. This must be one of the
voters’ priorities. We cannot solve the
country’s socio-economic problems
until we have elected the right people
to remarkably mold well-meaning and
pro-masses legislative measures and
would keep intense watch over the socio-economic programs of the government.

The people’s main challenge during
the May 2013 midterm elections actually is how to choose rightful leaders
who would help get back the country’s
economic dynamism derailed because
of the previous economic debacle.
Furthermore, the people need leaders
who could help mitigate the causes of
social unrest we are seeing right now
such as massive unemployment, food
shortage, lack of shelter and proper
education, medical care and violence.
We are not going to elect incompetent
and inept people to vital positions,
which will only weaken the institutions they want to represent. In such
a situation, it would be appropriate
to have officials who would assert the
prerogatives of the government in relation to the social and economic aspects and to make sure that there is effective political intervention on behalf
of the underclass.
public dissatisfaction has risen
with the perception that many of the
candidates from the national down to
the local levels who are seeking reelection have been unable to tackle, in
particular, their sworn task. On a final
thought, it would be so degrading to
see these people strutting again in the
halls of power like political demigods.
It is very critical at this time with the
midterm polls scheduled for next year
because the burden is absolutely entrusted to the electorate on how they
would build what political analysts
and legal luminaries call - social and
economic trust. What to do? We ought
to choose officials who can engender
that kind of political conviction.

SPECIAl FEATURE

ing to join his school in the coming
few days.
Abdul Kareem Osman, 64, arrived
at the camp two days ago after he fled
his home in Damascus amid the fierce
battles that engulfed his city over the
past days.
“There is no safe place in Syria.
There is no electricity, no other public services and no work to live on,”
Osman told Xinhua, adding “Our food
ran out and we had no chance to stay
alive.”
Qasimi, the female refugee, said
that she left the Syrian city of Abu Kamal near the Iraqi border four days
ago and came to Camp Domez after
she failed to cross to Iraqi border
through the al- Qaim border point
which was closed.
“My son is in the Syrian government army and I haven’t seen him for
more than a year because of the violence,” she said, while avoiding the
camera which possibly would identify
her and result in danger for her beloved son. [pNA/Xinhua]

Syrian refugees battling winter freeze

Syrian woman Hakima al- Qasimi in her fifties was seen setting
up a tiny bonfire Sunday in the
winter coldness at the refugee camp
of Domez, in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan
autonomous region.
Qasimi was hardly the only one battling the freeze among the thousands
of Syrian people at Camp Domez, some
20 km south of the city of Dohuk, capital of the Dohuk province.
The number of Syrian refugees,
many of them Kurdish people seeking to flee their country’s ongoing violence, has increased to more than
40,000 at the camps of the Kurdistan
region, according to statistics released
by the office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The number of families resorted
to Domez has reached to 5,593, Niyazi
Nuri, the head of the camp, told Xinhua.
“The camp is still receiving hundreds of refugees every day and the
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
is providing all the humanitarian
needs of the camp in cooperation with

By Jamal HaSHim, ZHang ning
the international organizations,” Nuri
said.
Subhi Ahmed, an UNHCR official at
the camp, told Xinhua that his agency is providing the camp with winter
clothes and is preparing new shelters
for the new families that are joining
the camp every day.
“We will set up 1,000 tents in the
coming days and the KRG is providing
the logistic support by supplying the
camp with pipes of potable water,”
Ahmed said.
“The education directorate of Dohuk province opened a school at the
camp and has received more than
1,646 male and female students after
employing some 50 Syrian teachers,”
Abdullah Mohammed Saeed, headmaster of the school, told Xinhua.
The students are studying in Kurdish language, Saeed said, adding that
some 500 more students are prepar-

9

Fighting the
filibuster

Less political point-scoring

NGENDERING SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC TRUST – The beatings of
electoral drums are getting nearer and louder – barely five months from
now to be precise. On the part of candidates who are seeking reelection notably lawmakers, lofty campaign promises must be kept aside because there is
no shortage of crucial issues to be examined. Aspiring candidates both in the
national and local levels should always
remember in the event some would
successfully make it to the legislative
chambers, they have one duty that
precedes all others: to keep the country stable, progressive and prosperous.
That would mean bearing in mind to
have more practical policy-making and
less political point-scoring.
Successful candidates will need to
directly involve themselves in the affairs of government especially in socio-economic management. If their aim
was to demonstrate to the electorate
the kind of public service the Filipinos would like to see, then they should
not prematurely announce ambitious
and make-believe initiatives, mostly
schemes that reflect the desires of their
constituencies. And for the next five
months candidates of the contending
parties will be flexing their political
muscles, but their every moves and actions will be closely watched and monitored by the wary electorate.
probably at this stage, candidates
specifically those vying national positions have already in mind what they
envision for the masses. However,
early signs suggest that the cautious
voters may instead seek drastic and

A

VANTAGE POINTS

VOL.5 ISSUE 197 • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012

( 1st of two parts )
ANAlYSIS
By ari melBer

p

RESIDENT Barack Obama recently said Congress should “seize the
moment” and summon a majority
to push immigration reform. There is
only one problem – Congress already
did that.
Majorities in the House and Senate
backed the DREAM Act, a bill creating a
path to citizenship for young illegal immigrants brought to the United States
as children, during Obama’s first term.
The bill died, however, when a minority
of Republicans filibustered it. So even if
a new immigration majority materializes next year, Republicans can just filibuster again. Unless Erika Andiola gets
her way.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is due to hear arguments Dec. 10 in Andiola’s case – an
ambitious and erudite lawsuit from
Common Cause – which argues that a
small band of senators have turned the
filibuster into an unconstitutional assault on our democratic government.
Andiola is not a U.S. citizen, so you
might wonder how she ended up in the
middle of this debate. She moved with
her parents from Mexico to Arizona at
age 11. She was a quick learner, mastering English, graduating in the top five
of her class and earning an academic
scholarship to Arizona State University.
Andiola was stripped of the scholarship, however, after Arizona passed
a law barring undocumented students
from receiving educational benefits.
Now she is one of the lead plaintiffs
in Common Cause v. Biden, the legal
element of an escalating campaign to
combat filibuster abuse in the Senate.
Andiola’s lawyers have a novel argument: She can sue the Senate because
the filibuster thwarted legislation that
would have protected her education.
Back on Capitol Hill, Democrats are
also considering reforming the filibuster in January, once the new Senate is
sworn in. Majority Leader Harry Reid
(D-Nev.) says the Senate can alter its
rules with a bare majority on the first
day of the session. (It would require a
supermajority during the rest of the
year.)
Other senators – mostly Republicans, but also some Democrats – say
that no matter what day it is, the rules
should be changed only with a supermajority. If Reid presses on, there will
be a lot more debate about that arcane
parliamentary question. The answer
could determine the fate of Obama’s
legislative agenda. And it’s a central issue in the filibuster lawsuit.
In the briefs for the case, Common
Cause documents a radical shift familiar to C-SpAN junkies across the nation: The filibuster went from a rare
procedure in the Senate to standard
operating procedure. The Senate used
to average about two filibusters per
year, notes the brief, but that number
skyrocketed to 137 for Obama’s first
year in office.
Even if you are not a parliamentary
junkie and expert on cloture, you have
probably still heard the media echo of
this trend. Any time a reporter says
you “need 60 votes” to pass a bill in
the Senate, he is referring to Republican filibuster threats which require 60
votes to overcome.
Over the past 20 years, and particularly the last four, something radical
happened in our democracy. The filibuster has gradually transformed the
legislative branch of government from
a majoritarian democracy into a body
frozen by a “minoritarian” veto.

10 NATION/WORlD
NATION BRIEFS
Truce

I

n the spirit of the holidays, Armed Forces
chief Gen. Jessie Dellosa will recommend a holiday truce with the New
people’s Army (NpA) that
will last almost 20 days,
similar to last year’s.
“We will recommend
to have a suspension of
offensive military operation (SOMO)…so that all
can enjoy the Christmas
season, so that soldiers
and even (the rebels)
in the mountains will
at least be able to enjoy
Christmas,” Dellosa said.

S

Confident

M

alacañang is confident the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement signed
by the government and
the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will
not suffer the fate of the
Memorandum on Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), which
was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme
Court in 2008.
At a press briefing on
Tuesday, deputy presidential
spokesperson
Abigail Valte said the
Framework Agreement
was crafted by government and MILF negotiators “with the Supreme
Court decision on the
MOA-AD in mind.”

Declined

he number of Filipinos who are
optimistic
that
their quality of life will
improve in the next 12
months declined in the
third quarter, a Social
Weather Stations (SWS)
survey showed.
The survey found that
34 percent (optimists)
expect that their quality
of life will improve in the
next 12 months, while 7
percent (pessimists) expects it to become worse.

A worker counts one thousand pesos bills inside a money
changer in Manila November 28, 2012. The Philippine peso
hovered around its strongest level in more than 4-1/2 years
on Wednesday after stronger growth data, while most
other emerging Asian currencies slid on worries about the
looming U.S. fiscal crisis and doubt on the Greece debt deal.
[REUTERS]

N

T

HE
economy
notched
another
vote of confidence
as the philippines landed in an international
news website’s list of 40
best-performing
stock
markets this year.
CNN Money ranked
the philippines as the 9th
bourse with the strongest
performance so far in
2012, noting a 26-percent
gain as of Nov. 14.
The list, which is also
tagged as the “best investments in the world,”
includes stock markets
which posted “healthy
gains” despite “a volatile
year and a slowing glob-

al economy,” CNN Money
said.
The recent thumbs-up
for the philippine economy comes as local stocks
soared to new all-time
highs 32 times so far this
year.
The latest record was
hit Thursday when the
pSEi rose by 0.12 percent
or 6.73 points, closing at
5,640.45.
“A number of stock
markets around the world
have delivered solid performances this year, but if
you look at the standouts,
there’s a common thread:
they’re all small emerging markets,” CNN Money

said.
The best-performing
markets are those are
insulated from external
events and have enjoyed
stable local and political
environments, it added,
quoting a fund analyst.
Venezuela sat on top of
the list of 40 markets, having posted a year-to-date
gain of 219 percent so far
this year.
It was followed by
Egypt (55 percent), Turkey (43 percent), pakistan
(33 percent) and Nigeria
(31 percent).
At the bottom of
the list, meanwhile, are
Taiwan and the United

States,which both posted 6-percent gains; and
Czech Republic, Iceland,
Luxembourg at 4 percent.
“While most of the
top-performing markets
are still small when it
comes to liquidity and
volume, they’re starting
to gain positive attention
from investors, fund managers and rating agencies,”
CNN Money said further.
In the case of the
philippines, the three
major credit rating agencies--Standard & poor’s,
Moody’s and Fitch--now
placed it only a notch
below investment grade.
[Yahoo]

orth Korea said it
would carry out
its second rocket launch of 2012 as its
youthful leader Kim Jongun flexes his muscles a year
after his father’s death, in a
move that South Korea and
the United States swiftly
condemned as a provocation.
North Korea’s state
news agency announced
the decision to launch another space satellite on
Saturday, just a day after
Kim met a senior delegation from China’s Communist party in the North Korean capital of pyongyang.

I

V

IETNAM is setting up
patrols to protect its
fisheries in the South
China Sea after a state
company accused Chinese
boats of sabotage and India declared itself ready
to deploy naval vessels to
safeguard its interests in
the disputed waters.
Vietnam’s civilian-led

patrols, backed by marine
police and a border force,
will be deployed from January 25 to stop foreign
vessels that violate fishing laws within Vietnam’s
waters, Vietnam’s government and state media said.
The patrols illustrate
mounting tension in the
South China Sea where

claims by an increasingly powerful China have
set it directly against U.S.
allies Vietnam and the
philippines, while Brunei,
Taiwan and Malaysia also
claim parts of the mineral-rich waters.
A decree forming the
Vietnamese patrols was
signed on November 29,

Naval warships form a line during an exercise in the waters of Bay of Bengal in Chennai January 24, 2010. [REUTERS]

the day Chinese media
announced new rules
authorising police in the
southern Chinese province
of Hainan to board and
seize foreign ships in the
South China Sea.
“It’s going to lead to
friction,” Carl Thayer, a
Southeast Asia security
expert at the University of
New South Wales in Australia, said of China’s new
rules that take effect from
January 1 on boarding
ships which “illegally enter” waters it claims.
“If it begins to assert
these rights and isn’t
challenged over time it
becomes customary, it becomes practice.”
Vietnam’s announcement on the patrols, published in Tuesday’s Dan
Viet newspaper, comes a
day after its state oil and
gas company, petrovietnam, accused Chinese
boats of sabotaging an exploration operation by cutting a seismic cable being
towed behind a Vietnamese boat.

Drone

ran captured a U.S. intelligence-gathering drone
that entered its airspace
over the Gulf, its armed
forces said on Tuesday, the
latest in a recent succession of alleged U.S. violations of Iranian territory.
The incident highlighted tensions in the Gulf as
both the Islamic Republic
and the United States seek
to demonstrate their military capability over the
waterway amid a standoff
over Iran’s nuclear programme.

Vietnam steps up sea patrols
G
as tensions with China climb

Cancelled

hilippine Airlines
and Air philippines
Express have announced that they canceled several Tuesday
flights due to Typhoon
pablo. pAL said in a Monday night news release
that they canceled two
domestic flights to Davao
from Manila.
The airline also said
that it is upgrading the
aircraft of two subsequent flights to Davao
to accommodate passengers of the canceled
flights.

atherine, the wife of
Britian’s prince William, spent the night
in hospital where she is being treated for acute morning sickness following the
announcement that the
couple are expecting their
first child.
The family revealed
the news earlier Monday,
ending fevered speculation
about a baby destined to
become Britain’s monarch
whether it is a boy or a girl.

Rocket launch

Purged

ome 280,000 illegitimate registrants
have been removed
from the voters’ list in
the Autonomous Region
in Muslim Mindanao
(ARMM), Commission on
Elections (Comelec) records show.
According
to
the
Election and Barangays
Affairs Department, the
Automated Fingerprint
Identification
System
(AFIS)
has
detected
250,773 multiple registrants while the biometrics system has spotted
29,394 underage registrants. Biometrics refers
to the picture, fingerprint
and electronic signature
recorded by a computer
during the voters’ registration period.

T

VOL.5 ISSUE 197 • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012

Party mates

ermany’s
Angela Merkel will rally
the rank-and-file of
her conservative party at
its annual congress Tuesday, eyeing a third term as
chancellor of Europe’s top
economy in elections next
year.
Buoyed from her position as the country’s most
popular politician, Merkel,
58, takes the podium at her
ruling Christian Democratic Union’s (CDU) two-day
conference in the northern
city of Hanover.

p

Warned

resident
Barack
Obama dramatically
told Syria’s president
Bashar al-Assad not to turn
chemical weapons on his
own people, following US
warnings his forces were
mixing deadly sarin gas.
Obama publicly told
the increasingly isolated
Assad not to unleash the
“worst weapons of the
20th century” in the 21st,
capping a day of alarming
American warnings on the
Syrian regime’s intentions.

EDGEDAVAO VOL.5 ISSUE 197 •WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012

Bangsamoro...

FFROM 1

C. Gascon, of the Office
of political Affairs of the
Office of the president,
during a three-hour special dialog Monday with
members of the Regional
peace and Order Council
in Southern Mindanao
(RpOC 11) headed by
Davao del Norte Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario.
Also in attendance
were Gov. Corazon N.
Malanyaon (Davao Oriental), Gov. Arthur T.
Uy (Compostela Valley),
Mayor Michelle N. Rabat
(Mati City), regional directors and commanders
of the philippine Army
units and philippine National police in the region.
Gascon, who was the
youngest member of
the 1986 Constitutional
Commission and served
in Congress as partylist
representative,
interacted with RpOC members, particularly on the
views and comments
of six local government
units
(LGUs)—Davao
City, Davao del Norte,
Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley, Davao
del Sur and panabo City
-- on the FAB document.
Gascon said he had
read the seven-and-ahalf page document and
found it “encouraging”
and “very positive.”
The views and comments from Davao City
occupied more than half
of the 7.5 pages.
Using the power
point presentation of
prof. Maria Coronel

Pablo...

Ferrer, senior member
of the philippine peace
panel, Dept. of political
Science, Up entitled
“The political Settlement with Bangsamoro,”
Gascon told members of
the RpOC and ranking
officers of the Armed
Forces of the philippines and the philippine
National police that the
Bangsamoro land contemplated in the FAB
is “not the final peace
agreement” and “definitely not the controversial MOA AD.”
He said, however,
that it is a roadmap to
the achievement of final
peace in Mindanao.
He said the situation
today is that both sides
of the Mindanao conflict are no longer “face
to face” negotiating,
but rather “side by side
working on the agreement.”
He said both sides
“see the need to closely
work together.”
He said the panels
are now hammering out
agreements as followup
documents to the FAB.
The panels are negotiating on power sharing,
wealth sharing and normalization.
Discussion on power
sharing, he said, is focused on the reserved,
concurrent and exclusive lists of powers and
competencies, intergovernmental relations and
territorial scope and
jurisdiction. This part is
“95 percent completed,”

said Gascon, who did
not elaborate.
On the other hand,
talks on wealth sharing between the panels
involve taxation, block
grants and subsidies,
revenue share from natural resources and other
sharing modalities, he
said.
Also being negotiated is the normalization portion of the final
agreement. Gascon said
this involves security,
which deals on the decommissioning of combatants, disposition of
weapons and policing
the ranks of the forces
on both sides, socio-economic matters and, finally, justice and reconciliation.
He said the Bangsamoro is intended to have
a parliamentary form
of government, rather
than the executive-legislative form like what the
country has now. It will
be headed by a “chief
minister” (not a “prime
minister”).
The Bangsamoro will
elect members of its assembly, who will in turn
elect the chief minister.
The Bangsamoro will
be given due respect for
its religious and cultural
identity.
The Bangsamoro and
the national government
will have an asymmetric
relationship instead of
a co-equal relationship,
where the national government is higher than
the Bangsamoro.

masyado ang tubig,” he said
in an interview on dzBB radio. He feared there may
be more who were swept
away by flood.
Uy said New Bataan
was one of the worst-hit
areas in the province. Citing initial reports, Uy said
the Army truck was about
to make a turn when it got
swept away. “Nang lumiko
sila biglang bumuhos ang
baha,” he said. When asked
if there could be more casualties, he said it was possible.
Reports reaching the
regional office of the Office
of Civil Defense (OCD) 11
said that 20 soldiers were
reported missing or feared
dead in barangay Andap,
New Bataan, Compostela
Valley.
OCD 11 regional director Lisa Mazo said they are
still verifying reports that
the soldiers’ outpost was
buried by a landslide.

But National Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management
Council
(NDRRMC) head Benito
Ramos said the only confirmed death involving a
soldier was the one who
drowned while helping
evacuate residents affected by floods in Compostela
Valley.
Ramos said the reported missing soldiers
belonged to Charlie Company of the 66th Infantry
Batallion, 10th Infantry
Division of the philippine
Army.
“We are trying to establish contact with them
as the area is totally isolated. Roads are not passable
and no communication
available,” he said.
The typhoon disrupted communication with
damaged cell sites while
roads were made impassable by fallen trees and
landslides.

FFROM 1

lines.
In Davao Oriental, planning and development officer Freddie Bendulo said
six people were killed, including an elderly woman
in Manay town who was
crushed to death when a
tree fell on her house, adding that they are still identifying the other five and find
out how they had died.
Bendulo said four fishermen were also reported
missing off the province’s
east coast.
In Compostela Valley,
Governor Arthur Uy said
at least six residents were
feared dead after an Army
truck evacuating them to
safer ground was swept
away by floodwaters.
Uy cited initial reports
reaching him indicating
that the incident occurred
in Barangay Andap in
New Bataan town. “As of 4
p.m. hindi mapasukan ang
New Bataan dahil mataas

11
Senators sees smooth
sailing of FOI bill
T
HE Senate leadership gave assurances Tuesday the
proposed Freedom of
Information bill faces no
hindrances for its passage in the upper house
of Congress.
Senate president Juan
ponce Enrile assured the
Senate will approve the
FOI bill which, if passed
into law, would give even
ordinary Filipinos, specially media members,
access to information in
the government offices.
Senate minority leader Alan peter Cayetano
and Sen. Loren Legarda
delivered
co-sponsorship Tuesdsay in support
of the measure.
“Best Christmas gift
we can give to Filipinos
is the passage of the FOI
– a measure institutionalizing transparency and
accountability in this
country,” Cayetano said.
Legarda
expressed
support for Senate Bill
3208, An Act Fortifying

Sereno...

the people’s Right of
Ownership over Information Held by the people’s Government. She
stressed that honesty,
transparency and accountability must always
be upheld to gain back
the people’s confidence
and faith in the bureaucracy.
“While the present
administration is undertaking efforts to elevate
the citizens’ trust and
confidence in the government, we must give
the people something
that they can hold on
to,” said Legarda in her
co-sponsorship.
Legarda
explained
that the various controversies in the past decade have left Filipino
citizens doubting the
capability of the government to do its mandate
of serving the best interest of the people.
“Under this proposed
measure, we aim to feed
our people with infor-

mation about us, the
leaders they elected in
office, and the businesses our offices deal with.
All government agencies will be mandated to
disclose information on
public interest transactions, documents or records,” she pointed out.
The Senator said the
compulsory disclosure
shall be done by posting the aforementioned
documents on government websites for easy
access, aside from providing these documents
upon a person’s request.
Furthermore, vital
information must be
translated into major
Filipino languages and
made easier to comprehend.
Senate committee on
public information and
mass media chairman
Sen. Gregorio Honasan
said if nobody would
interpellate, the Senate
would proceed to vote on
second reading. [pNA]

to the SC en banc questioning the resolution
issued by Sereno without authority from the
en banc.
During Tuesday’s en
banc session presided
by Carpio, the issue as
to the RCAO was still
pursued.

The SC en banc has
decided to put on hold
the assumption of Econg
as RCAO head.
It has designated Associate Justice presbitero J. Velasco, Jr. to talk
to Econg not to perform
her duties and assume
her post. [pNA]

press themselves. We will
allow them to do so,” he
said.
In this year’s celebration, it was also the first
time that Task Force Davao,

10th Infantry Division and
Amnesty International (AI)
are joining hands to lead
the 25th commemoration
of Human Rights Weein the
country.

government regulations
regarding the selling and
distribution of fireworks
and firecrackers, she said.
Ventura said the BFp
was specifically tasked to
conduct fire safety orientations to fireworks and
firecracker vendors and
establish display areas for
them.
She said the pNp will
be responsible for the
monitoring and enforcement aspect, specifically
the confiscation of illegal
or banned items.
Based on the govern-

ment’s regulations, the
selling and distribution
of firecrackers and fireworks containing gunpowder measuring to
more than a third of a
teaspoon are strictly prohibited.
Among the firecrackers that had failed such
standard but have remained available in the
markets are pla-pla, bin
laden, big triangulo, super
lolo, goodbye philippines,
goodbye world and piccolo. [Allen V. Estabillo /
MindaNews]

FFROM 2

of RCAO in Region 7 in
Cebu City.
They also denied
that they allowed Sereno to appoint Judge Geraldine Faith A. Econg to
be the Officer-in-Charge
of RCAO Region 7.
Associate Justice De
Castro wrote a letter

Karapatan...

FFROM 2

streamers but are prohibited from bringing
firearms and other deadly weapons which is not
allowed by law.
“They are free to ex-

DOH...

FFROM 3

and firecracker victims in
strategic public places.
She said they tapped
the Department of Education to help enhance the
campaign by educating
schoolchildren and students regarding the perils of using fireworks and
firecrackers.
The agency has also
linked up with the Department of Trade and
Industry, philippine National police (pNp) and
the Bureau of Fire protection (BFp) to ensure
proper implementation of

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Edge Davao hiring editor, 3 reporters
EDGE DAVAO is in need of an editor
and three staffwriters/reporters for its
expansion program.
The reporters will be assigned to
the business, science/environment and
political beats.
On the other hand, the editor will supervise the reporters and do gate-keeping tasks.
Applicant must be a graduate of a
four- year college course. For reporters, experience is not needed although
preferable. The editor should have at
least one-year experience in editing.
Interested parties may send their application letter to Mr. Antonio M. Ajero,
Edge Davao editor, thru email address
ajero_antonio@yahoo.com. For inquiries, please call Mr. Ajero thru mobile
phone 09052422686 or landline 2213601.

HE Davao City Water District is granting special discount
and privilege to senior
citizens on their water
bills as provided in the
expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 or also
known as Republic Act
9994. The utility has been
implementing this since
2010 which is also in line
with its service pledge

and customer satisfaction
program.
To avail of the said
privilege or discount, the
senior citizen or the authorized representative
may apply at any DCWD
offices in Bajada, Matina,
Victoria plaza and Toril by
submitting the following
requirements: proof of
identity (OSCA ID), proof
of account registration

(DCWD Water Bill), proof
of residency (barangay
certification) and authorization of representative.
For individual service
connection applications,
five percent discount will
be given provided that
these conditions are met:
the connection account is
in the name of the senior
citizen residing therein
for a period of one year;

discount is applicable
only on the month/s
when water consumption
does not exceed 30 cubic
meters; privilege has a
validity of one year and is
subject to re-application/
renewal otherwise it may
be reverted to its original
scheme if not re-applied/
renewed. Said privilege
may be discontinued in
case of death of the ac-

count holder or any violation of DCWD policies and
shall not be excused from
imposition of penalty.
Senior Citizen Institutions can also avail of
the privilege and shall
be granted of the 50%
discount under the following conditions: the
discount privilege is given
on a monthly basis and
is valid for one year and

Hedcor grants
training for OSY

H

SUSPENDED. A security guard of Magallanes Elementary School along Magallanes
St. shows the “No Class Today” sign posted at the school’s main gate due to typhoon

subject to re-application
or renewal; discount may
be reverted to its original scheme if not re-applied or renewed; it will
be discontinued in case
the institution’s license/
accreditation is terminated by the DSWD or expired and any violation of
DCWD policies and shall
not be excused from imposition of penalty.

EDCOR has given
out a chance for
five out-of-schoolyouth (OSY) to complete a
Shielded Metal Arc Welding
(SMAW) course under the
Technical Education and
Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
The course calls for 268
hours of practical training
where upon completion,
the scholars will be qualified for TESDA’s assessment
toward a level 2 National
Certification (NC) in SMAW.
The National Certification will help the youth land
higher-paying jobs wherever they are minded to apply.
The beneficiaries are
members of the Bagobo-Tagabawa tribe, the indigenous group that hosts

the Sibulan and Tudaya
hydropower plants in Sta
Cruz, Davao del Sur.
This is the second batch
of scholars to receive the
same scholarship from the
renewable energy company. The first scholars from
last year’s program are already applying their skill at
work.
“Hedcor is indeed our
partner in shaping the future of our youths,” said
tribal leader Datu Rogelio
Manapol.
Hedcor is the front runner in run-of-river hydropower in the philippines
with 19 hydro plants in
Benguet, Davao and Ilocos
Sur generating a total capacity of 155 megawatts.
[Hedcor]

14 SPORTS

VOL.5 ISSUE 197 • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

Azkals’ confidence soar,
But will the
Lions roar?
By Neil Bravo

Phil Younghusband (left) says the Azkals are more
confident with two wins over Singapore this year.
Inset, Shahril Ishak of the Singapore Lions will be the
main man for the Lions whose fans will try to make an
exclusive Lion’s den of their home stadium.

W

ITH two wins
this year against
the
Singapore
side, the philippine Azkals are oozing with confidence in the buildup to
the much-awaited semifinals home game on Saturday.
Azkals star striker
phil Younghusband believes that those wins
against Singapore will
give them an edge in the
semifinals of the 2012
ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup.
The Azkals beat Singapore twice this year in
friendly matches – a 2-0
triumph last September
7 at Jalan Besar Stadium
in Singapore and repeated with a 1-0 victory last
November 15 in Cebu.
“We’ve had good results against them and
that gives us confidence,”
Younghusband said in a
recent television interview. “We know how Singapore (plays).”
playing their first
home game in the country could give the Azkals
the much-needed psychological boost.

But just how important it is to play in your
own turf and before your
legion of fans, the Singaporeans know better.
Over at Singapore,
the Lions fans are getting
ready for the big clash
with the Azkals by ensuring there will be no ‘visitors’ in the stands of JBS
on December 12 for the
Singapore home game.
In their official Facebook page, Lions fans
asked organizers to make
the tickets exclusively
sold to Singapore fans on
the first day of sales.
Ahmad Loqman Ishak
posted on the Exclusive
Singapore Lins XII Facebook page: “(We) must
fill Jalan Besar Stadium
with Singaporean... if not,
the pinoys here will fill
in JBS and support their
own team for sure.. Go
Singapore Go!!!”
Ishak has a point.
Even in Singapore, the
Azkals have legion of
fans.
Another Lions fan Roland Lim said: “Will be interesting how FAS plan to
arrange the ticket sale as

sg got tons of pinoy supporters! Suggest should
allocate at least 1000
tickets min (minimum)?”
Realizing that, other
fans suggested to sell the
tickets, which fetch to
10 Singapore dollars for
gallery and 16 Singapore
dollars for the best seats,
to Singapore fans.
Suggested Lions fan
Lyz Ja’afar: “Can I suggest
to open the ticket sales
solely for Singaporeans
on the first day, then the
remaining tickets unsold
to be open for all including foreigners on e next
day so tt we, e Singaporeans will b given e utmost opportunity to fill
up e stadium to support
our Lions team. Also, I
strongly feel tt tickets
should not b set available
thru e AXS if we want to
c the cheers, the roars &
the wave by our true Singaporeans! Rest assured,
we Singaporeans will b
thr to support them if
tickets are being prioritised for us e Singaporeans. Show ic upon purchase! please.. please..
please...!!!”

Veteran Azkals standout Chieffy Caligdong will again be relied upon by
coach Michael Weiss off the bench.

INdulge!

VOL.5 ISSUE 197 • WEDNEDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

ARTS & CULTURE

The reel
deal on
Aidx
Paredes

IT’S been seven years since I graduated from the UP Film Institute
and I have been feeling a bit idle for not having gotten any hands
on experience in film production right after college. While I still revisit my love affair with photography through various outlets and
projects, I have yet to finish my full length script and experience the
“reel” deal.
Despite my time off from film production, I continue to get inspiration from young

and independent film makers who show a lot of promise in the art of storytelling.
A few more years before
he steps out of college, Aidx
Paredes, photographer /
graphic artist, is now making his debut as a filmmaker. He has made a huge
transition with his newly
completed short film,
“Somnolence.”
The 14-minute silent
film, written and directed
by Aidx, tells of a girl and a
boy who fall in love and are
faced with the challenges
of their own dreams and
desires. Love does not encompass all in between bizarre realities that surround
the couple. Just when love
is supposed to find them,
it opens doors to their own
self defiance which leads to
further complications.
Aidx draws inspiration
from sad movies and sentimental songs. The styling,
the treatment, and the rest
of the elements of are vividly inspired by the hipster
culture Tumblr has created.
He even gives him film
a touch of nostalgia with
digitalized film burns and
vintage color application.
JM Santillan, the director
of photography, is also the
first “litratista” of the year
of the prestigious school
award, the Foto Modelo
Ateneo. He recently won
an award in an Asian photography contest. Aidx
finds harmony with JM’s
treatment, having worked
with him for almost a year
through
collaborations
and magazine shoots. Together, they have come up
with a mutual idea of how
they want the film to look,
branding it with their own
style and vision.
The cast, LA Subido
and Michael Lu, are two of

Aidx’s favorite muses whom
he has worked with the ad
campaigns for Pickled and
Peppered. Aidx also had a
hand in styling his artists
with help from Davao-born
clothing brands, SOUL
Lifestyle and Pickled and

Peppered.
The musical score was
done by two independent
artists from Manila, namely Idris Vicuña from the
Bee Eyes band and Francis
Regalado from the group
Love in Athens. These artists are quite known in Manila’s underground music
scene.
“Somnolence” will be
shown on December 8 at
the Cinema 5 of Gaisano
Mall. Movie starts at 8pm.
Discover what a young
blood like Aidx Paredes
can do, and let’s support the
next generation of Filipino
filmmakers.

A2 INdulge!
UP AnD ABoUT

Miguel Antonio brings
jazzy Christmas to SM
Lanang Premier, Dec 22
MigUEL AnTonio, an 11-year-old boy
blessed with a voice of an angel, is set to
bring the love and warmth of Christmas to
SM Lanang Premier on December 22.
Young
boy
Antonio who recently launched
his first EP (What
is Christmas to
You) first performed on stage
at his school’s idol
contest in 2010
where he won
first prize. Since
then,
Miguel
took part in various competitions
and performed
at various charity shows. The
young lad also
performed in Disney Channel’s Upin and ipin Beatbox promotional trailer. in 2011, Miguel sang at “David Foster and Friends
Concert in Singapore” accompanied by Mr David Foster on the piano.
Rearranged with a lighthearted jazz feel, Miguel’s
rendition of “give Love on Christmas Day” brings a
whiff of freshness, retaining the nostalgia to this festive
classic.
Experience a jazzy Christmas! Catch Miguel Antonio
live at SM Lanang Premier on December 22, 5PM at the
mall atrium. Admission is free.
For inquiries, call 285.0943. Like SM Lanang Premier
on Facebook or follow @smalanangpremier on Twitter
for event and promo updates.

Rurouni Kenshin
premiers Dec 5 at
all SM Cinemas

EnjoY a day of fun and excitement as SM
Lanang Premier holds a Rurouni Kenshin
Fan’s Day in celebration of the Ruroni Kenshin live action movie premier on December 5, 2012 at the SM Cinema Lobby of
Lanang Premier.

Cosplay as your favorite Samurai X characters or
join our open Cosplay competition where you have a
chance to win Rurouni Kenshin movie tickets and iMAX
loot bags.
Rorouni Kenshin stars Takeru Sato stars as the titular
political assassin turned non-lethal protector, Takei Emi
as Kamiya Kaoru, Aoki Munetaka as Sagara Sanosuke,
Taketo Tanaka as Myoujin Yahiko, Aoi Yuu as Takani
Megumi, Eguchi Yosuke as Saitou Hajime, Kikkawa
Kouji as Udou jine, and Kagawa Teruyuki asTakeda
Kanryuu.
The film will be screened exclusively at all SM Lanag
Premier and SM City Davao and will run from December 5 to 9.

EDGEDAVAO

VOL.5 ISSUE 197 • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012

Is all body fat
created equal?

In prehistoric times,
the bodies of our
ancestors adapted
perfectly to periods of intermittent
starvation, becoming highly efficient
at storing extra energy (calories) they
came across and
consumed. Unfortunately, in these
bountiful 21st century times of plenty,
this energy-storing
efficiency that served
the caveman so well
now contributes to
our problems with
weight gain and obesity.

What does our body
do with the extra energy
we consume?
We first store our extra food energy away in
fat cells beneath our skin,
dispersed evenly throughout the entire body. This
initial energy “sink”—if it
happens during a period
when the person is consuming normal amounts
of food—is healthy.
But if a person keeps
consuming more and
more calories, those fatstorage cells will continue
to grow, and will become
overstuffed and “sick.” The
bloated condition of these
cells will then trigger inflammation and cause fat
to be deposited within
and around our main internal organs. This means

that if a person continues
to indulge in serious gluttony, this consumption of
excess calories will cause
substantial amounts of fat
to accumulate in our liver,
around our abdominal organs, within muscle, and
around the heart—and it’s
this type of fat that is particularly dangerous to our

ing different responses to
weight gain. Some people
have a greater capacity to
store energy in a healthy
way during that first energy “sink” that are mentioned above. In others,
excess calories start to be
deposited much earlier as
fat, in and around the vital
organs.

There is good news and bad
news. The bad news is that
visceral fat in and around your
belly is bad for you. The good
news is that, once we start
to exercise, our body seems
to preferentially burn this
unhealthy fat first.
health!
This fat that is deposited
around the vital organs is
called visceral fat and it’s
more metabolically active
than regular subcutaneous (under the skin) fat,
so that it produces more
inflammation, more metabolic problems, and more
diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Importance of Waist
Size
There are many different body types, reflect-

It also turns out that this
pattern of fat deposition
varies by gender and race:
Men’s bodies have a significantly greater tendency
to store visceral fat than do
women’s bodies, and people of South-Asian descent
are also much more likely
to make this kind of fat.
A Simple But Crucial
Diagnostic Test
Has your doctor ever
measured your waist circumference? This is usually done with a simple

tape measure. It turns
out that waist circumference is more indicative of
visceral fat than is either
your weight or your body
mass index (BMI)—which
means that waist circumference is a better predictor
of the onset of diabetes and
cardiovascular disease.
So watch your belly!
If you are a man, try to
keep your waist circumference less than 40 inches—
women should aim for below 35 inches.
There is good news and
bad news. The bad news
is that visceral fat in and
around your belly is bad
for you. The good news
is that, once we start to
exercise, our body seems
to preferentially burn this
unhealthy fat first.
Therefore, even with
modest weight loss, you
will begin to see belly fat
start to melt away! And the
beneficial metabolic effects
of this kind of weight loss
cannot be underestimated:
By trimming your belly,
you can markedly reduce
your risk of diabetes and
cardiovascular disease.
So the important thing
to remember here is,
please do not be frustrated
if your initial efforts don’t
produce your ideal weight
loss—since not all body
fat is created equal, as long
as your belly is shrinking,
then you are making progress! (Yahoo! Health)

VOL.5 ISSUE 197 • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

EnTERTAinMEnT

Kate Middleton pregnant!

Royal, Prince William
expecting first baby!
Kate Middleton is
pregnant! no, seriously, for real this
time.
While speculation of
Prince William’s royal heir
kicked into high gear last
week, St. james’s Palace
this morning confirmed
the worst-kept secret in
England, and announced
that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their first baby.
“Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess
of Cambridge are very
pleased to announce
that the Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a
baby,” the palace said in a
statement this morning.
no doubt intending to
keep this highly public
news as private as possible, there was no word
on whether Kate and Wills
are expecting a boy or girl,
or a possible due date for
the little royal.
The palace did announce that Kate was “in
the very early stages” of
her pregnancy, however,
and today was admitted
to King Edward Vii Hospi-

tal in London due to suffering hyperemesis gravidarum—in other words,
acute morning sickness.
She’s expected to remain
in the hospital for just a
few days and will rest at
home after.
in fact, it’s believed that
the royal mama-to-be has
not yet hit the 12-week
mark, but was forced to
announce the pregnancy
owing to her hospitaliza-

tion.
“The Queen, the Duke
of Edinburgh, the Prince
of Wales, the Duchess of
Cornwall and Prince Harry and members of both
families are delighted
with the news,” the palace
said.
As is the world at large
and those in favor of the
continuation of the monarchy, we’re guessing.
Congrats!

Mike Tyson ‘not mad’ at
Brad Pitt for sleeping with
ex-wife Robin Givens
no need for earmuffs or a tetanus
shot, Brad Pitt.

Mike Tyson isn’t mad
at Angelina jolie’s fiancé
for allegedly sleeping
with his ex-wife Robin
givens back in 1988. Saturday, the retired boxer
recounted walking in on
the World War Z star and
givens in bed together
during an interview with
“in Depth with graham
Bensinger” on Yahoo!
Sports.
“i was getting a divorce. i was going to my
lawyer’s office to divorce
her that day but i wanted
to sneak in a quickie,” Tyson said. “This particular
day, someone beat me to
the punch…i guess Brad
got there earlier than i
did. i was mad as hell. You
should’ve saw his face
when he saw me.”
This isn’t the first time
Tyson’s spoken out about
this purported betrayal:
Earlier this year he re-

counted the events to
Conan o’Brien on his
eponymous talk show,
and he also told global
grind about the incident
in harsher terms.
So while he certainly
hasn’t forgotten, he

seems to have forgiven. “i
hope Brad doesn’t think
i’m mad at him,” Tyson
said. “i’m not mad at this
guy, no way.”
glad to see Mikey T has
finally acquired some anger management skills!

INdulge! A3

A4 INdulge!
EVEnT
EnTERTAinMEnT

EDGEDAVAO

VOL.5 ISSUE 197 • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012

Megastar

wows Davao

Text and Photos
by Lean Daval, Jr.

M

S SHAROn CUnETA, the country’s one and only
megastar, awed Dabawenyos when Abreeza Mall
once again treated them to a once-in-a-lifetime
experience through its “A Thanksgiving Musical”
last Sunday.

Maan Chua

Rhyzza

Abreeza’s activity center was
bursting with swooning humanity including Sharon’s adoring fans
which began pouring into the mall
from all directions as early as 11
o’clock in the morning just to get
seats near the stage so they could see
her up close, even though the show
did not start until 4 o’clock in the afternoon.
The Megastar’s enduring charisma was very evident as soon as she
stepped on the stage and performed
her best known hits which made her
star-struck Dabawenyo fans giggled
with excitement. Her sweet voice has
not changed; it’s still like listening to
her original songs from the albums
that her avid fans collected through
the years.

Chokoleit

Performances from Dabawenyos Maan Chua and Chokoleit, Talentadong Pinoy’s Rhyzza and Zion
Show spiced up the event. Chua, a
Tunog Mindanaw 2011 grand champion, sang her winning piece Ilaw ng
Kapayapaan ,while the comical Chokoleit sang and made the audience
guffaw at his unique antics.
The country’s beloved Megastar
may not be seen regularly performing or doing concerts like she used to
when younger, but it was clear that to
her fans and followers, this was the
same Sharon Cuneta that captured
their hearts for over three decades
ago.
Allow us to share some of the pictures we took at the memorable show
last Sunday.

SPORTS15

EDGEDAVAO VOL.5 ISSUE 197 •WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012

Team Pacquiao off to Vegas
M

ANNY pacquiao’s
fourth showdown
with Juan Manuel Marquez tols its final
countdown when the camp
of the Filipino ring icon
leaves for Las Vegas.
pacquiao sparred on
Monday (Tuesday in Manila) for one last time at the
Wild Card gym at around
mid-noon, and after freshening up, embarks immediately for the four-hour
travel to the entertainment
capital of the world.
His entourage that
includes trainer Freddie
Roach, assistants Buboy
Fernandez and Nonoy Neri,
and strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, is
expected to arrive in Vegas
by night time, just in time
for the formal arrival ceremony by the two fighters
on Tuesday (Wednesday in
Manila) at the lobby of the
MGM Grand.
A long convoy of vehicles will accompany the
33-year-old pacquiao on
his way to ‘Sin City,’ including the customized bus
provided by Top Rank that
bears the huge image of
the ‘pacman.’
Marquez and his group
are also going to Vegas on
Monday after arriving in
LA on Saturday aboard a
private plane from Tolucca,
Mexico, where his training
camp was based.
The final press confer-

ence for the 12-round fight
is set on Wednesday while
the formal weigh-in is set
Friday noon.
pacquiao is heading to
his fourth fight with Marquez from a camp that
was bereft of distractions
so unlike the last time he
had prepared for the Mexican. It was before his fight
against Marquez exactly a
year ago when rumors first
came out that pacquiao’s
relationship with wife Jinkee was on the rocks.
The highly-disputed
majority decision pacquiao later fashioned out
against Marquez added
fuel to the fire as reports of
the rocky marriage were
picked up by major US
newspaper dailies despite
the boxing superstar’s vehement denials.
Now that he’s facing
Marquez once more, pacquiao is certain no such
distraction will ever affect
him again.
“Walang aalalahanin,
100 percent (ang) condition and focus, no distraction,” he said without
mentioning in particular
past troubles that bothered him in past training
camps.
Since renewing his
faith in God, pacquiao has
completely turned his
back on his old vices of
gambling, drinking, and at
times, womanizing.

Manny Pacquiao, pictured in a light mood with trainer Freddie Roach, has declared that his condition and focus is at “100 percent” as he wraps up training camp for his fight
against Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez. AP

Barkley joins Manny in training

N

EW YORK — Manny pacquiao did
some training with
a heavyweight for his next
bout: Charles Barkley.
Barkley and fellow
NBA Hall of Famer Reggie
Miller visited the boxing
megastar in camp before
his fourth fight with Juan
Manuel Marquez, the subject of a 30-minute special

that will air Thursday on
TNT (Friday, Manila time)
after the network’s NBA
doubleheader.
“Charles & Reggie: Toe
to Toe with Manny pacquiao” features clips in
which Barkley and Miller
spend time with pacquiao
and trainer Freddie Roach
at the Wild Card Gym in
Hollywood,
California

— Barkley even having
to steady himself while
holding the heavy bag as
pacquiao hits it. Miller
also joins pacquiao on his
morning run through Griffith park in Los Angeles.
Barkley, who once
famously brawled with
Shaquille O’Neal in a game,
says that “as a boxing fan,
it was one of the coolest

things I’ve ever done.”
He and Miller, both TNT
analysts, are also shown
shooting baskets with pacquiao, a basketball fan who
last year delayed his ring
entrance so he could watch
the end of a Boston Celtics
playoff game.
pacquiao fights Marquez on Saturday night in
Las Vegas.

space of a month and has
been without injured star
point guard Steve Nash, expected to be the triggerman
first for Mike Brown’s newlook princeton offense and
now for the spread pickand-roll system he ran under Mike D’Antoni for years
in phoenix, for all but 50
minutes this season. Still,
explanations aside, this is
hardly the way most figured the Lakers would look
one-fifth of the way through
the 2012-13 season.
As the losses mount
— the Lakers would have
to go 65-0 to fulfill Metta
World peace’s preseason
wish, which seems unlikely — patience is wearing
thin, not only within the
Lakers’ fan base (which, as
we’ve seen, can be pretty
intense) but also within the
ultra-competitive mind of
L.A.’s top dog. From Joe McDonnell of FoxSports.com:
Kobe Bryant had seen
enough.
Another
humiliating
loss to another bad team
Sunday night had the Lakers co-captain ready to
take on the whole team if
his teammates don’t start
getting their games — and
attitudes — together.
“I’ll kick everybody’s
ass in this locker room if
it doesn’t happen,” Bryant
said after a 113-103 loss to
the Orlando Magic at Staples Center. Yes, the 6-10
Orlando Magic. “It’s the atti-

tude you have to have. Metta is the same way. Dwight
has it in him as well. Even
though he smiles a lot, he
cares a lot about this. Come
hell or high water, this has
to get done.”
This seems to be the
general consensus around
the Lakers — all hands on
deck, we’re surrounded,
wins need to be strung together like popcorn for a
Christmas tree and whatever must transpire for
those wins to start coming
needs to happen, like, yesterday.
Lakers fans surely appreciate hearing those
words from Bryant, but
would probably much
rather hear them from
charity-averse center Howard (9 for 21 from the freethrow line against Orlando,
including 7 for 14 during
L.A.’s fourth-quarter collapse, a career-worst 46.5
percent on the season) or,
even better, from out-ofsorts big man pau Gasol
(11 points on 4-for-11
shooting against the Magic,
sadly stuffed at the rim by
earthbound-and-down Orlando counterpart Glen Davis, playing the least productive basketball of his
NBA life) than from a version of Kobe who’s playing
perhaps the most efficient
ball of his career while
serving as the Lakers’ primary scorer and facilitator
in Nash’s absence.

I’ll kick everybody’s ass if we don’t fix things
T

Kobe Bryant has seen enough of the Lakers’ misfortunes.

HE Los Angeles Lakers’ Jekyll and Hyde
act continued apace
over the weekend, with a
Friday night blitzing (17
3-pointers, 54 percent
shooting, a 28-and-20 performance by Dwight Howard and 122 points) of the
Denver Nuggets giving way
to a Sunday night stumble
against an Orlando Magic
team that entered Staples
Center at 5-10, losers of
three straight and five of its
last seven. But in the two
teams’ first meeting following the four-team, 12-player offseason blockbuster
that sent Howard from central Florida to Hollywood,
the Magic hung with a Laker side that’s experienced
its share of turmoil this season, too, and pulled away
with a 35-19 burst over the
game’s final seven minutes.
The loss drops the Lakers to 8-9, a below-.500
mark that seems stunning
given both the collection
of talent on hand and the
statistical note that L.A.’s
got a top-five offense and a
top-10 defense in terms of
points scored and allowed
per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com’s stat
tool. The win-loss-win-loss
trading, the alternating
progress and regression
on display every night, has
been somewhat understandable — after all, the
team has had three different head coaches in the

16 SPORTS

VOL.5 ISSUE 197 • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2012

EDGEDAVAO

AAK Davao stamps class anew
T

HE AAK Davao continued to reap the
dividends of its intensive program after it
romped off anew with a
medal harvest in the recent
2012 Adidas International
Karate Cup at the SM Mall
of Asia.
AAK Davao hauled off 7
gold medals on top of 8 silvers and 8 bronzes in a stint
described by head coach
Rommel Tan as “more than
what we expected.”
The gold medalista are.
Rick David Aquino (Davao
Central HS) in the 6-7 yrs
old boys intermediate kata,
Alexa Gabrielle Barnes
(Davao Central HS) in the
6-7 girls intermediate kata
and 6-7 girls kumite, Darlene Mara Mara (Tecarro)
in the 12-13 girls kumite,
Kassandra Danielle Barnes
(Davao Christian HS) girls
Cadets intermediate kata,
Arthur Lao III (Ateneo de
Davao University) in the
juniors open kata and pvael
Jervis Bacayo (University
of the Immaculate Conception) in the juniors above
68-kg kumite.
Bagging silver medals
were Onna Ysabelle Barnes
in the kata and kumite,
Vivian Cortes (UIC) in the
girls kata, Denzel Mara
Mara (Tecarro) in the girls
kata, Angelica Noro (UIC)
in girls kumite, Mary Ann
pilarte (UIC) in girls kata,
pavel jervis Bacayo (UIC) in
boys kata and Arthur Lao III

(Ateneo) in kumite.
The bronze medalists
are Carmela Marie Estarija in girls kata and kumite
(Stella Maaris Academy),
Danya paquil in girls kata
and kumite (UIC), Denzel
Mara Mara (Tecarro) in
girls kumite, Angelica Noro
in girls kata, Mary Ann pilarte (UIC) in girls kumite,
and Kassandara Barnes
(Davao City High School) in
girls kumite.
More than 400 entries
joined the championships
which attracted entries
from powerhouse Japan
and Indonesia.
The team also attended
the kumite seminar conducted by Shin Tsukii Sensei at the Jose Rizal University gymnasium.
“We had a great time
and we learned a lot from
the seminar given by Sensei
Shin Tsukii who is the former philippine Team coach
and is now based in Japan,
he is regarded as one of the
best instructors in Japan today,” said Tan.
The event was graced by
newly re-elected pOC president peping Cojuangco and
pOC Sec-Gen Steve Hontiveros along with Manuel
pocholo Veguillas, Chairman of AAK and president
of the Ice Skating Union of
the philippines and Hans Sy
of SM.
The team also paid a
visit pSC Executive Director Atty. Guillermo Iroy, Jr.